Prank or Treat
by Shadow Commando
Summary: Set 7 years before Counterfeit Manic. The Hedge siblings go trick-or-treating with their cousins, but it seems they have more than free candy on their minds.
1. Costume Wars

_"You and your twin brother Sonic looked very similar, and you still do, but back when you two were still tots, you both seemed to think alike on so many things that your mother swore you were both telepathic."_

(Hedge house, October 31, 11:32 am, 2003)

The lake house that could easily be mistaken for a mansion was totally silent, save for a young police officer climbing up the stairs. He had his revolver raised in front of himself as he scanned his surroundings for his target. He checked all the rooms, looked in all the closets, even going so far as to look in all the drawers, but to no avail. There was only one place left to check: his own room.

He crept toward the door across the hall from the bathroom and slowly opened the door with his foot and leveled his revolver at the room's interior, watching for anything out of the ordinary as the success or failure of this operation depended on it. The Nintendo was where he'd left it, the blankets on his bed were untouched…but the person he was after could still be hiding under the bed.

He quickly dived at the bottom of the bed and pulled up the blanket draped over the side and aimed his weapon at the bed's underside, but saw nobody.

Then he heard a noise behind him and rolled over onto his back to see a figure dressed in red jumping out of the laundry hamper placed against the wall across from him. He quickly raised his revolver toward the figure and pulled the trigger. A loud crash like thunder echoed through the house, and the figure crumpled back into the hamper from whence he came.

"I win!" laughed Manic, blowing imaginary smoke off the orange tip of the barrel of his plastic cap gun.

"No fair," said Sonic, climbing out of the laundry hamper in his devil costume, "you have a gun, but all I got is a pitchfork."

For the past few months, Sonic had been saving up whatever change he could find to get an army costume he'd been wanting for halloween, but now that halloween had finally arrived, he'd come up short and it seemed he'd be forced to wear the same costume he'd used the previous year.

"You just need to be faster," retorted Manic, setting the plastic gun in it's holster.

"One day, I'll be way faster than you!" shouted Sonic, aiming his pitchfork at his twin brother.

"First you gotta catch me," challenged the green hedgie, racing out of the room.

Sonic ran after him...at least he tried to, but he forgot that he was still in the laundry hamper and fell flat on his face. He got back up and charged after Manic who ran into the bathroom, with just enough time to lock the door behind him.

"You're too slow," laughed Manic.

"Well then open this door so I can run around on you!" shouted Sonic.

"I'm waaaaiiiiitiiiiiiiing," taunted the green spike ball.

Then he heard a strange clicking noise and didn't have time to register that Sonic had found the spare key to the bathroom before the door swung open and Sonic had him pinned to the floor.

"Say 'I give up'," said Sonic.

"Neva!" replied Manic.

His defiance proved costly when Sonic started tickling him.

"NO STO-HAHAHAHAHAHA-P!" laughed Manic hysterically, writhing around underneath Sonic.

"Say it," said Sonic, his evilness of his smirk matching the costume he was in.

"NO! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Manic, still trying to get away.

This continued until Manic was able to grab Sonic's sides and return the torture. Before long, both twins were struggling to get away from eachother and finally clawed their way to opposite sides of the bathroom, catching their breath.

Neither one spoke as they got back up and washed the sweat off their faces off in the sink, but then two arms reached through the shower curtain and grabbed them. The twins looked in the mirror to see the face of an old witch sticking through the shower curtain and screamed in horror, flailing around in her arms to get away, the story of Hansel and Gretel still fresh in their young minds.

"GET HER OFF! GET HER OFF!" shouted Manic.

Sonic was too scared to even think coherently and screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping someone would hear him, but knowing it was hopeless since both their parents had taken Sonia shopping for her halloween costume.

But then the witch unexpectedly let them go. The tots fell to the floor and stared up at the monstrous woman looking down at them, but as if they hadn't been through enough already, the witch reached up and began peeling off her face to reveal...Aleena?

Their mother stood there in there in the shower, dressed as a witch, laughing harder than either of them had ever seen.

"I guess this means _I_ win," she giggled.

That must have meant she pretended to go with Jules and Sonia, but then waited in the bathroom for them in her new costume. Manic's mind slowly began to register that their own mother had just played the biggest prank on them, ever, while poor Sonic couldn't take all that excitement at one time and burst into tears.

Aleena reached down and pulled young Sonic into a tight hug, her witch costume wrapping itself around him as she held him. He continued sobbing into her shoulder while she ran her fingers through his quills, trying to calm him down.

_"What a crybaby_," thought Manic, walking away from the awkward scene, "_I'm sure the real Devil would have laughed at the witch and poked her to death with his pitchfork_."

He walked downstairs and got some grape juice out of the fridge and a sippy cup out of a cabinet and poured himself a cup of the heavenly elixir and savored the first moutful before finally swallowing it.

"Man that stuff is good!" said Manic, his eyes like saucers.

He raised the cup to his lips a second time, only to discover the juice was gone. He must have finished it without realizing it (NEVER underestimate grape juice!).

Then he heard the front door open, accompanied by the sound of shopping bags crinkling as their carrier walked in. That meant Dad and Sonia were home!

Manic rushed into the foyer to see Jules holding two plastic shopping bags, followed by Sonia who was dressed as Belle from _Beauty and the Beast, _wearing the yellow dress she had on in the dancing scene.

"What'dja get?" asked Manic, strolling up to Jules.

"This is pretty much it. Just some things that Sonic and your mother both wanted." replied Manic's father, taking the bags into the kitchen and setting them on the table.

"What's in it?" asked Manic excitedly.

Well, your mom thought we should bring something to the Halloween party at Skye's house this afternoon, so I got some brownie mix, and some orange and brown sprinkles to go with them." replied Jules, holding up the brownie mix and the sprinkle container.

"AWESOME!" shouted Manic, jumping for joy.

"Hey Sonic, I got something for ya," called out Jules, holding up one of the bags.

Sonic walked down the stairs, drying his eyes, followed by Aleena.

"Did something happen?" asked Jules, noticing Sonic's moist eyes.

"I think my new costume was a little too much for him," replied Aleena, holding up her witch mask.

"I see...well anyway, I got something you might like," offered Jules, holding the shopping bag out to his son.

Sonic's eyebrows lifted when he noticed the bag and took it and looked inside. His face lit up when he saw the army costume he'd wanted inside the bag.

"WHOO!" whooped Sonic.

He hugged Jules, thanked him, and raced upstairs to change into his new costume.

Sure was strange to watch the blue spike ball go from sacredy hog to happy joy joy in three seconds, but at least he wasn't upset anymore.

"I'm Belle," squeaked Sonia, "I'm the beauty."

Manic almost laughed at her incorrect assumption of the _Beauty_ part of the movie title.

"So where's the beast?" he asked jokingly.

"He got sick. I promised to bring him candy," squeaked Sonia, her toddler vocabulary making her seem out of character in her costume, but it didn't bother Manic that much. She was just a little girl pretending to be both her favorite disney character and who she wanted to be when she grew up: a princess. In some ways, it was alot like Manic dressing up as a Police officer since he'd always wanted to be one, despite his tendencies to dress like a rock star, from time to time.

One of his main inspirations had been none other than his dear old Uncle Chuck, who was also a Police Officer. Not once did he stop by to visit without telling Manic and Sonic about things he'd done and witnessed during his job. Some were recent, some were long past, all of them fascinated Manic and were part of the reason he wanted to follow in his Uncle's footsteps when he came of age. He looked forward to wearing that shiny badge, carrying his own gun in public, driving an awesome car, busting bad guys, and especially rescuing little children from crazy people.

That last part found itself on his list of reasons for being a cop after Chuck had told him about a teenage girl who had been held captive by some psycho for several years before she finally worked up the courage to sneak out of his garage and call the police. Chuck knew about this because he had been apart of the Squad sent to kick down that monster's door and haul him off to prison. Ever since then, Manic wanted desparately to be apart of that. He wanted to find people who would hurt little children and lock them up in a place where they'd never hurt anyone again. THAT was his main reason for wanting to be an Officer like his Uncle.

Speaking of which...

"When will Uncle Chuck be here?" asked Manic.

"He said he'd be here around 1, so I'd give him another hour and a half," replied Jules, getting the water, oil, and eggs required for the brownie mix.

Then Sonic came back downstairs in a camouflage jumpsuit with a belt and suspenders strapped on over it, with a plastic knife, canteen, and flashlight attached to the straps. Even Manic had to admit it looked good on him.

"Check it out!" said Sonic, posing proudly in his new costume.

Aleena immediately started giggling. So much, in fact, that the other four hedgehogs looked confused.

"What's so funny?" asked Manic.

"It's not funny, it's sooo cute," squealed Aleena, her knees touching.

"Uhhh..." was all that came out of Sonic.

"You're both wearing each other's colors...I gotta get a picture of this!" said Aleena excitedly, rushing upstairs and returning only seconds later with the digital camera Jules got her the previous Christmas. She snapped several pictures of them with the camera and then had them stand together, stand apart, stand back to back, and all sorts of ridicluous things that only a mom with a camera could have thought up, then had them stand on either side of Sonia, and finally finished a good five minutes later.

"Perfect! I gotta email these to your grandma!" laughed Aleena, taking the camera into the office.

"I hope she doesn't do that ever again," said Sonic.

"Grandma's gonna see me as a princess!" squeaked Sonia excitedly.

Manic just rolled his eyes.

"Well now that that's over, you kids wanna help me make these halloween brownies?" asked Jules.

"Yays!" shouted all three hedgies simultaneously as they rushed into the kitchen.

**I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Remember, this is 7 years before **_**Counterfeit Manic**_**, which means it is 2 years before Manic gets kidnapped by Robotnik. The reason I posted this was because I felt that I needed to post at least one halloween story, and I settled on the Counterfeit Manic one, but since it's still July in CM, I decided to do a separate story that would allow CM fans to get a good look at the real Manic, along with some of his relatives. Read the next chapter (when it's up) to find out more. **

**You might as well since I won't be updating CM until I've finished this short story. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**


	2. Uncle Chuck

After the tray of brown mush with black and orange sprinkles disappeared into the oven, Sonic ran for the door.

"I'll beat you this time, slo-mo," he taunted, running out the door.

"I'll beatcha there! :O" shouted Manic, close behind.

"Don't mess up your costumes before you have a chance to use them!" called out Jules.

Manic sure hoped that wasn't Sonic's plan. If it turned into another wrestling match out here, he was going straight back home.

He followed his twin into the forest nearby. It didn't take a genius to figure out where he was heading since it led to one spot and one spot only: their favorite hiding place. The one place in the world they could go to and no one would bug them, much less find them. Sometimes they'd go there to play hide and seek, other times they'd go there to hide if they had a bad day, but they always went together. In fact, it seemed like they did everything together, to the point where everyone joked about their minds being linked, or something.

This time, however, was different. This time, they were going to settle a score with eachother.

Sonic raced through the forest, trying to beat Manic to the summit of Mt Awesome, as they called it- it was a hill inside the forest with a tree and a tire swing on top- but when he looked behind himself, the green spike ball was nowhere to be seen.

_Yosh! I'm finally getting faster!_ thought Sonic, a cocky smirk on his face.

He continued running to the top of the hill until he could see the big tree. The only thing wrong with that picture was the miniature green furred police officer swinging around on the tire swing attached to it.

":O How'd you get here so fast?" shouted Sonic.

"I took a shortcut, _Rambo_," replied Manic, sarcastically referencing Sonic's army costume.

At least that explained why he hadn't been able to outrun him this time around.

"Did you also take a shortcut across the hall to the bathroom, back home?" asked Sonic, just as sarcastically.

"Nope, I'm just way more awesome than you, :)" replied Manic, posing proudly like Sonic had back home.

"Let's see whose costume looks better after it gets ground into the dirt," said Sonic, approaching Manic.

"NOT THE UNIFORM! :O" shouted Manic, taking off down the hill.

Sonic watched him flee like a chao finding out it was bath time.

"THAT is why I'm way past cooler than you, X3" laughed Sonic, watching the whole thing.

(...)

A half hour later, the brownies had finished baking and the twins begged and pleaded to have just one square of the delicious brown goo, but were promptly reminded that they were for the party. Fortunately, Jules had picked up a couple of snacks at a gas station on the way home for this kind of situation and had kept them hidden in his jacket until now. The first was a Butterfinger, Sonic's favorite candy bar. The second was a bag of cheetos, Manic's favorite munchies. They thanked their dad profusely and then ran into the family room to watch the halloween episode of spongebob on TV.

They turned on the flatscreen just in time to see the nickelodeon announcer say that Spongebob was "up next" but then had to watch several more commercials go by before the familiar portrait of a pirate with a scary mouth appeared onscreen.

"Arh ya ready kids?" arh'd the painting.

"No," replied Sonic and Manic.

"I can't heeeaaar you," continued the pirate.

"NO!" barked everyone in the house.

It was a game they all played together whenever spongebob came on. Even those who weren't watching would respond negatively to the "pirate-with-the-scary-mouth" as everyone called him.

Then Spongebob went through the whole pointless intro with his name being repeated 500 times. Little Sonia got caught up in blurting out said sponge's name everytime the TV did it while Sonic and Manic just rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

They both agreed that while Spongebob was awesome (at this point in time :P), it did need a new intro. Just one more example of how they thought alike, as their mom had constantly reminded them.

The scaredy pants episode came on and they watched Mr Krabs tell Spongebob a scary story about the Pirate Ghost known as the Flying Dutchman, who would steal people's souls. Actually, he failed epicly at telling a scary story, but the slightly retarded sponge got spooked anyway, and went through the roof (literally) when Squidward snuck up behind him in a Dutchman costume. Sonia laughed while Sonic and Manic poked fun at the episode as they munched on their snacks.

"Dad tells way scarier stories," whispered Manic.

"Is it just me or are the episodes getting kinda flat these days?" whispered back Sonic.

"I hope not. I'll wait till the end of the episode to judge," whispered Manic, crunching on his beloved cheetos.

"Mind if I have some?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah sure," replied Manic, handing him a few cheetos while Sonic handed him back a small piece of his butterfinger, in return.

He popped the chocolate/peanut butter candy into his mouth and was pleasantly surprised by the sudden change in taste, losing himself in the whirlwind of chocolatey cheesiness.

_SO GOOD!_ he thought, vowing to save up some change for moar butterfingers and cheetos next time they stopped at a gas station.

For the rest of the episode, they watched Patrick help Spongebob customize his own head to fit his ghost costume, and even then he still failed epicly at scaring anyone...that is, until the Dutchman got jealous of his costume and tore it off. It seemed that his ghost costume was more of a mask to hide disfigurement than it was a costume since he'd taken off his entire body, leaving only his brain, face, and skeleton to fit the costume, which actually creeped the siblings out a bit, especially Sonia who just stared blankly at the TV for a bit before another episode came on. Thankfully, this one was a bit more entertaining than the halloween one, though it was equally scary in a different way.

_Graveyard Shift,_ read the title as some spooky music played through the speakers. This episode actually was funny and scary. First, Squidward got run over by a stampede of customers after Mr. Krabs announced plans for the Krusty Krab staying open later, then Spongebob went on and on about how awesome it was to work at night before burning his hand and saying that he burned it..._at night_, then Squidward scared Spongebob with a scary story about some weirdo who cut off his hand, replaced it with a spatula, and now haunts the Krusty Krab. It was so stupid that it made all three Hedgehogs laugh. But then Sonia got scared at the part where the lights started flickering and the phone rang with no response and some creepy guy entered the store with a spatula, and Manic had to hold her to calm her down, but then she laughed when it turned out to be a nerdy guy and some wannabe vampire named Nosferatu that no one cared about.

"Sonic, Manic, your dad wants you outside," called Aleena from the foyer.

Both boys groaned as they got up and headed toward the front door. Princess Sonia waved goodbye as she watched them leave. They exited the house and were greeted by the cool, crisp autumn air. The first thing that crossed Manic's mind was how difficult trick-or-treating would be when the time came since it had gotten chilly even before the sun had gone down, but at least that would make the bonfire worth it.

Their attention was soon focused on Jules who was pulling the strings on a pumpkin like trash bag to close it up, near the driveway. He then brought it over to them and without warning, dumped its contents all over the unsuspecting Twins.

"Aaaaahhhh!" they shouted as they were showered in dead leaves.

Jules let out a hearty laugh and set the now empty trash bag on the grass.

"Mr. Sterin asked everyone attending the party to bring as many dry leaves as they could to keep the bonfire going. I need you guys to help me fill these trash bags up," said Jules, handing rakes to Sonic and Manic.

"I already filled that other bag up, so just fill up the bags beside it, and the one in front of you," continued Jules, heading back into the house.

"Oh we'll rake them, :)" smirked Manic, raking the leaves on the grass into a pile, "but first, I'm gonna have fun with them. X3"

(...)

After raking all the leaves they could find into one big mountain in the middle of the yard, the twins wasted no time diving in.

"Bury me!" ordered Sonic, his face the only thing sticking out.

He soon regretted saying that as his brother picked up an arm load of leaves and dropped them over Sonic's eyes and mouth. The sounds of rasberry spitting could be heard coming from the leaf pile.

Manic tried to think of a clever remark, but heard a car coming and decided to hide in case it was Uncle Chuck. He burrowed down inside the leaves, easily burying himself since he had more skill with that than Sonic did, and watched through tiny openings in the pile to see a car slowly pull up to the house, except this car looked nothing like the squad car they'd seen their Uncle driving. It was an average looking yellow car with four dours, completely unfamiliar. It stopped in front of the driveway and a masked figure got out of the car, clutching a butcher knife.

Alarm bells went off inside both Twins as they watched the figure creep along their yard toward their house, more specifically toward the leaf pile. He was probably planning to hide inside the pile and wait to ambush Mom or Dad when they came out.

"When I say now, we both jump out and tackle him," whispered Manic.

"Gotcha," replied Sonic.

The figure crept closer and closer to the leaf pile, the knife still in his hand. Manic couldn't tell what his face looked like since it was hidden under a Jamaican wig, adding to the creep's creepiness. He was right in front of the leaf pile, ready to get down inside of it when he heard someone shouting "NOW!" and was tackled by two midgets who jumped out of the pile and pinned him to the ground. Manic did his best to keep the guy pinned while Sonic wrestled the knife from his hand, but upon closer inspection, he realized the knife was plastic. He held the knife in front of Manic's face and the green hedgehog stopped moving as he stared at what turned out to be a toy. Then the cloaked figure started laughing, and the two Hedges instantly recognized that cackle.

"Uncle Chuck?" they asked in unison.

The figure removed the heavy wig to reveal the face of the Cop Uncle they had looked up to for so long.

"I was going to wait for ya in the leaf pile, but I can see ya beat me to it. You didn't think I'd come in through the front door, didja?" asked the older hedgehog.

Both twins knew he meant arriving on time in an expected manner.

"I guess not. These leaves are out here because our dad wanted us to rake them," replied Manic.

"And a dandy job you've done, too," congratulated their Uncle.

"Sooo...didja bring us anything? O_O" asked Sonic, eagerness etched on the young Commando's face.

"As a matter of fact, I did," began Chuck, sitting up, "Your dad told me what costumes you guys were going in, and I thought yours could use a real badge. I'll let you borrow mine for tonight."

Chuck pinned his own badge on Manic, who had the OO look on his face.

"What about me?" asked Sonic.

"I figured you'd look more intimidating with a bigger knife strapped to your army costume, so I got you that plastic one you wrestled out of my hand," replied Chuck.

Sonic stared at the knife again, realizing that he'd gotten his own present before he even asked for it.

Both Hedgehogs pounced on their Uncle a second time and hugged him really tight while thanking him profusely. Chuck laughed again at how the twins had gone from ambushing him to hugging him in 10 seconds, but then he remembered something else.

"By the way, where is Sonia?" he asked.

"She's inside with mom and dad, watching Spongebob. She didn't know you were going to be here this early, either," replied Manic.

"Well I got a real Tiara Crown she might like with her costume," said Chuck, pulling yet another surprise out of his pocket as they all walked back to the house.


	3. Preparations

"So did anything interesting happen before I got here?" asked Chuck as they walked back toward the house.

"Me and Sonic played Cops and Robbers, and I blew him away," bragged Manic, pulling out his revolver and blowing imaginary smoke off the barrel.

"I still scared the crap out of you when I jumped out of that laundry basket," protested Sonic.

"Yeah, but at least I didn't cry my eyes out," retorted Manic.

They reached the door.

"Heh, I remember your own dad would play pranks on me around this time of year when we were your age. Whenever I watch a scary movie, I don't look over my shoulder for a monster, I look to make sure your dad doesn't jump out at me again," said Chuck, stepping through the door.

As he did, he was met by a man with a hockey mask and a machete.

"RAAAAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!" he shrieked.

Uncle Chuck was so surprised that he fell on his rear end, the OO look on his face.

The masked killer removed its mask to reveal Jules laughing just as hard as Aleena had when she scared the twins. His laughs became contagious as the siblings themselves started laughing at Chuck's unfortunate encounter, and it only got worse when they realized the irony of it all happening right after he told them about how Jules used to scare him alot.

Chuck just sighed as he waited for his bro and nephews to regain their composure, but it proved unnecessary when a hedge girl dressed like a familiar disney princess ran up and gave him a big hug. He was delighted to see his niece again and held her tight as her mother came into the room.

"Hope the boys didn't give you too much trouble," laughed Aleena, pulling both Chuck and Sonia into a group hug.

After hugs and kisses all around, Jules and Aleena left the house to go jogging and Chuck finally showed the tiara to Sonia. Her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets when she saw the crown and she reached for it despite the fact that it was several feet away, such was the nature of infants. Grabby, grabby. At least she was old enough to put it on her head, and not in her mouth.

"Girls sure get excited around shiny things," chuckled Chuck (pun intended).

After that, the sibs sat around the older hog, listening to another _COPS_ story, though this one seemed to bother their Uncle a bit.

"So who'd you nab this time?" asked Sonic.

Chuck's mood got a bit darker.

"Somone who I won't be missing. That's for sure," he began.

"No matter how much you think you may know, one unexpected event can change your whole life forever. Everything you once believed can turn around in the blink of an eye, and you'd never see it coming."

That got the small hedgies' attention. They all sat still, having learned to stay quiet from hearing previous stories, listening intently, their unusually big eyes fixated on their super hero of an uncle. Chuck kept his voice to a whisper.

"I once believed I had the power to save anyone who called for help, until two and a half months ago. We'd gotten another call from a child claiming to be a kidnap victim, and we followed the call to the house it came from, but by the time we got there, the kidnapper had already discovered the child had called us and we found her beaten so badly that she didn't even look like she was alive. Worse, the kidnapper was using her as a hostage, demanding we _not_ put him in jail in exchange for us letting him go. We turned off all recording devices and then promised to let him go, and as soon as he handed the girl over to us, I tasered him and every cop in the vicinity pounced on him and gave him a beating far worse than what he did to his victim. We had turned off the recording devices so he couldn't use them against us in court because we couldn't let him get off without giving him what he gave that little girl since he'd beaten her to within an inch of her life. We got her to the hospital, but she had lost so much blood that she was dead on arrival...after being separated from her parents for so long, she never got to see them again. After being caged like an animal inside the man's closet for two years, she never got to feel the softness of a bed in the hospital...all because that sicko felt like he had to take someone else's life to make up for his own pathetic existence."

Chuck sat silently staring into nothingness as he relived the whole thing, regret filling his mind.

"We didn't have to wait for clearance, we didn't have trouble finding the house, we went there as soon as we were called, and we moved faster than we ever had before, but there was nothing we could have done. If anything, we may have arrived in time to let that little girl see justice before the end," he said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"What was her name?" asked Sonic.

"It wasn't anyone you knew, thank God, but I don't want you getting images in your head everytime you meet someone with her name, so I'd prefer not to tell you," replied Uncle Chuck, pushing the situation from his head.

"Sooo...why'd you tell us about it, then?" asked Sonic.

"It happened a month and a half ago. I couldn't stop thinking about it since then and I didn't feel safe letting you guys go out trick-or-treating alone this year, so I decided to go with you, which was why I came," replied their Uncle.

"We're not going alone, mom and dad and all our cousins will go with us," said Sonic.

"I know, but I still felt powerless not being there myself, which is why I decided to hang around. I just can't shake the feeling that something may happen to my niece and nephews," explained Chuck.

"We're still glad you came. It'll be awesome showing you off to everyone at the party, :)" said Manic.

Chuck's face lit back up to its usual friendly glow.

"Speaking of which, I did bring some goodies of my own. Wouldn't wanna take up space without giving something back," he said.

"Oooh, whatchu bring?" squeaked Baby Sonia.

"Actually, I brought a few things. One of which is a plate of those little hot dogs wrapped in biscuit bread. The second is what I call _monster mouths_."

Xo "EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!" squealed Sonia.

Oo "What are monster mouths?" asked Manic.

"Not much, just some apple slices glued together by carmel with nuts or candy corn in between them to look like sharp teeth between two jaws. It's actually very simple to make," said Chuck, proudly.

"Clever," admired Sonic.

"Yeah, such is the genius of simplicity," gleamed Uncle Chuck.

Sonic then heard a ringing noise coming from the office and ran inside to where the new wireless phone was sitting on the desk, and pulled it off its stand and brought it to his ear.

"Hello? Hedge Residents," he greeted.

"Oh, hey Sonic, is your mom there?" asked a cheery voice on the other end.

Sonic immediately recognized the woman as his friend Skye's mom, Juliana, or Mrs. Sterin as he and his siblings refered to her.

"Nah, they're out jogging. They'll probably be back in ten or fifteen minutes," replied Sonic.

"Okay, just tell her to call me back. I was wanting to know if you guys were still coming," she said.

"Yeah we're still coming. My mom pulled some brownies out of the oven but she wouldn't let us have them because she was saving them for the party," said Sonic.

"I guess that says everything. Well thanks for letting me know, Harvey was worried you guys would cancel at the last minute or something, he's a detail nut," laughed Juliana.

"No problem," replied Sonic, "My uncle also brought some monster mouths, which are apple slices with nuts and carmel between them, and he also brought some hot dogs wrapped in biscuit bread or something."

"o.o Ooooh, mummy hot dogs," said Juliana.

_So THAT's what they're called._ thought Sonic.

"By the way, is Skye there?" he asked.

"Hold on a second," said Juliana.

Sonic could hear her calling Skye, followed by a long pause before he heard a familiar voice ask "Hello?"

"What's up?" asked Sonic.

"I am, XD" replied Skye.

It was their own inside joke. Skye sounded alot like _sky_, therefore, he was always _up_.

"So what's going on at the party?" asked Sonic.

"Sorry, mom said I'm supposed to keep it a surprise," replied Skye.

"C'mon, you can tell me, I'm your friend, :o" whined Sonic.

"Nope, you'll have to wait a few more hours. MWAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Skye cheesily.

"That reminds me, what costume are you wearing tonight?" asked Sonic.

"Well I was gonna go as a pirate again, but then my dad got me a firefighter outfit from the halloween store. It even looks like a real firefighter costume, too, 8D" said Skye.

While Manic wanted to be a cop, Skye had wanted to be a firefighter, and yet, his costume story was very similar to Sonic's in that he was gonna use the one from last year, but then daddy brought home the one he wanted, but like Manic, he was dressing up as the man he wanted to be when he grew up, so his experience had similarities with both Manic's and Sonic's. It struck Sonic as ironic that Skye also had light blue fur, sort of a mixture of green and blue. o.o

"Awesome! Manic's got a police outfit and is borrowing Uncle Chuck's badge. I'm going as an army guy, :)" boasted Sonic proudly.

"Coooooool, do ya got any guns?" asked Skye.

"Naw, just some equipment on my belt, but Uncle Chuck did bring a big knife for me to carry in my belt, like the kind Rambo uses," replied Sonic.

"Sounds cool, but you need a big gun if you're an army guy. You can use one of mine when you come over," said Skye.

"Sweetsie Cola!" cheered Sonic.

This halloween was getting better and better.

"By the way, whatcha bringing to the party? o_o" asked Skye.

Sonic thought about that for a moment.

"You'll have to wait a few more hours, XD" he replied, and then quickly hung up.

He ran back to the family room where Sonia was watching Manic and Chuck have an arm wrestling contest, but they stopped when they saw him enter the room.

"Who was it?" asked Chuck.

"Just Mrs. Sterin asking if we're ready for the party," replied Sonic.

Then Manic remembered something.

"We still need to bag up those leaves for the bonfire, :O" he said, running toward the front door.

"Right behind ya," said Sonic, following him.

"Chuck glanced at Sonia.

"Guess we better go help em," he said.

They both got up off the couch and followed the twins outside to help them bag up the leaves.


	4. Gathering

(Hedge House, 4:28 pm)

The front door burst open like a dam, letting loose a torrent of excited whoops as the three Hedge siblings poured into the yard, carrying their (soon-to-be) candy bags with their Uncle close behind them. They climbed inside Chuck's new car while Jules and Aleena (or Jason and the witch, if you prefer) climbed into their own car with the brownies and leaf bags. They would have all gone in the same car, but there wasn't enough room, so they took separate vehicles. And even though Skye's house was only a few blocks away, they didn't want to drop the treats they'd made, so they took the cars.

20 seconds later, they arrived at a regular two story house that was white on the top half, and blood red on the bottom half, which actually fit the halloween theme pretty well, but it wasn't the only thing that gave the house a halloween feel. Dotting the bushes were orange lights, making them look like they were on fire, and on the porch were two crudely carved pumpkins puking out their seedy insides. Upon seeing this, Sonic and Manic nearly fell over laughing, having never seen that particular design before, but the laughing quickly died when a stream of water shot out of the bushes at them.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" shouted the twins, running back to the car and hiding behind it.

They watched as the water slowed down to a trickle and a midget fireman in full gear stepped out of the bushes, holding a water hose.

"You guys are all washed up, XD" chuckled Skye, turning off the hose and dropping it.

Skye was Sonic and Manic's friend, and was a hedgehog like them and he even had blue fur like Sonic, except Skye's was light blue (hence his name), his eyes were gold, and his hair was pure white.

"Help us get the leaves out," said Sonic, running over to his parents' car and pulling a pumpkin themed trashbag full of raked leaves out of the trunk after Jules had opened it.

Manic and Skye got two more bags, and Jules got the last one with one hand, while holding the brownies in the other. Aleena went over to Chuck to hold the mummy hot dogs while he got the monster mouths. They brought the leaf bags into the backyard next to a pile of leaves even bigger than the one in the Hedges' yard.

"How'd you get so many leaves? :O" asked Manic, looking at the mountain of leaves ready to be set ablaze.

"Actually, we've been collecting them as they fell. Ever since the leaves started falling, we would just rake whatever fell and put them in bags, and got at least ten of them. Collecting them while they were still fresh also reduced the amount of bugs in them," replied Skye.

"OO That makes sense!" exclaimed Sonic, "We gotta remember that next year."

Then they took the food inside and set it on the table in the kitchen, next to a dozen other dishes full of food still wrapped in tin foil.

"Partyyyyyyy! ^-^" squealed Sonia.

"Not yet, we're gonna go trick or treating first," replied Aleena, setting the plate of mummy dogs down on the table.

"o_O Really? I thought we were having the party first," said Manic.

"Naw, we're having it when it gets dark. We adults will stay here and get everything ready while you guys go out with your Uncle and...the other guests," said Jules.

"O_O What other guests?" asked Sonic.

"Some old friends you kids haven't seen in a long time, ;)" winked Jules.

The twins' excitement skyrocketed. Who would they be seeing again after so long?

"By the way, where are your parents?" asked Aleena.

"Ohhh...around, ;)" winked Skye.

That meant they were likely waiting to ambush the guests like Jules and Aleena did to their own kids. Manic and Sonic ran around the house opening closets bathroom doors, and even bedrooms, but found nothing.

"Dang, they're good at this," said Sonic, leaning against a werewolf mannequin.

"Maybe they're outside," said Manic.

"Yeah, let's go check the backyard, one of them might be hiding in the leaves," said Sonic.

But before he could follow his brother, the wolf mannequin covered Sonic's eyes with its paws, preventing his escape.

"Guess who?" it asked.

"Dangit, you got me! :O" said Sonic, disappointed.

"I feel like I'm more annoying than scary," said a familiar male voice.

The "werewolf" removed its mask to reveal the face of Harvey Sterin, Skye's dad. Like Skye, he was a hedgehog, and his fur was white, while the hair on his head was black, a baffling contrast to his fur. The only resemblances he shared with his son Skye were the shape of their quills, and his eyes, which were icy blue, like Skye's fur. He was also a nice guy to be around, but was firm when he needed to be, and was known for his wacky sense of humor, as well as his ability to blend in, as his mannequin act had proven.

"You're not annoying, I've just been spooked twice already, :(" replied Sonic, referencing his mom and dad.

"Well that's what halloween is for," said Harvey.

"You still gotta find Mrs. Sterin, XD" laughed Jules, watching the whole thing.

"Have you seen her?" asked Manic, hoping his dad would come to his rescue.

"Maybe, maybe not, ;)" winked the older blue hedgehog.

"TRAITOR! :O" shouted Manic, then ran out the front door while Sonic followed.

They stopped at a tree near the Sterins' mailbox and leaned against it.

"Where do you think she is?" asked Sonic.

"Anyplace we haven't checked yet?" asked Manic, replying to Sonic's question with another question.

"No, I think we got everything," said Sonic.

"That means she must be outside," said Manic.

Both twins looked around the yard to make sure nothing was out of place, until an idea came to them.

"We still haven't checked that huge leaf pile. There's gotta be someone hiding in there," suggested Sonic.

"Either her or the bodies of the kids she found first. I'd also bring a box of tissues if I were you," teased Manic.

A cocky grin plastered itself on Sonic's face.

"Pfft, what's she gonna do? Jump out at us? I've been there and done that, so she better ha- SPIDER! 8O" screamed Sonic.

Manic looked up in time to see a gargantuan eight legged monster descending on him from a web in the tree. He didn't scream or run, he simply fell backward and held his arms up in front of himself as the spider got closer. The thing was as big as he was, and those fangs could take fist sized chunks out of him, and time seemed to pause just as it was about to land on him...until Manic realized the Spider had simply stopped dropping. That was when he noticed the spider's angry expression never changed. Nor did it's powerful legs move. Putting these facts together, he came to the obvious conclusion: it was a big fake.

However, Manic's nerves were so rattled that it still hadn't quite sunk into his head that he wasn't about to become spider food, and he stayed in his defensive position on the ground while Sonic was laughing so hard he had to lean against the tree for support...until something jumped out of said tree and landed behind him. Sonic turned around, only to feel a pair of fangs poking at his neck as the newcomer grabbed him and lowered her head toward his. She then backed up and looked him straight in the eye.

"You've been bitten...that makes you my slave, mortal," said Juliana in a fake Transylvanian accent.

It was all a big prank, and by none other than Skye's mom, Mrs. Sterin herself, who had dressed as a Vampiress, from the looks of it. Slowly, Manic regained his composure and got up off the ground and hugged Juliana, who pulled Sonic into the mix. While she was their friend's mom, she was also one of their friends since she played with them whenever they visisted.

"Out of everyone who ambushed us, you are the winner," said Sonic.

"I take it you weren't expecting my pet," purred Juliana, referencing her toy spider.

"We were expecting just you. Sonic thought you were in the leaf pile, XD" laughed Manic.

"Well that's only half true," replied Juliana.

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"Well, you're not the only ones we invited," chuckled Juliana.

So there was someone hiding in the leaf pile, after all. But before the twins could go to investigate, another car pulled up to the house and out climbed Uncle Cameron and Aunt Sauna. Cameron was a dark blue furred male hedgehog, while Sauna was a female hedgehog with hot pink fur. Manic and Sonic's jaws dropped when they realized who came over and immediately raced into the backyard and jumped into the leaf mountain and grabbed the two hedgehogs inside.

"Ahh, they got me!"

"WAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Get off me!"

"Apple sauce!"

Unable to take the tickle torture any longer, the two other hedgehogs finally crawled out of the leaf pile. Manic and Sonic poked their heads out to see their cousins, Caity, and her baby brother Bobby, wiping leaves off their costumes. Caity, a brown furred, 10 and a half year old female hedgehog, was dressed as a Japanese Empress. Bobby, a purple furred, 3 year old male hedgehog, was dressed as a green dinosaur.

"Nice dino costume," commented Sonic.

"Actually, he's dressed as Godzilla," said Caity, getting up off the ground.

She did have a point since those quills on Bobby's back did make him look similar to the King of all Monsters.

"So you came all the way here from South Island?" asked Manic.

"Yup. Mom and Dad thought we should come visit you guys for halloween, and then we were invited to the party by Mrs. Sterin." replied Caity.

"Awesome. But where's Match?" asked Manic, referencing Caity's younger brother Matt, who was Manic and Sonic's age, and was known as "Match" because of his fiery fur color and a burn on his arm.

"He's very sick, so he stayed home with Gramma and Grampa," replied Caity.

"Oh. Poop balls. How's Ashura doing?" asked Sonic.

"Actually, he should be here any minute," replied Caity.

"AWESOME BLOSSOM!" shouted the twins in unison while Bobby clapped.

Ashura was an older cousin of Manic, Sonic, Sonia, Caity, and Bobby. He was 16 and had unusual fur and eye colors. His fur was black and green while his eyes were ruby red. The last time either of the twins had seen Ashura was three years before when he spent Christmas with them. They couldn't remember that time very well because they were 4, and Ashura was pretty fat back then, so they could only wonder what he looked like now.

They all heard a noise on the other side of the house and stopped to listen. It was the sound of a car pulling up.

"Leaf pile!" whispered Caity sharply.

They all dived in and buried themselves in the leaves and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...

"Aren't they curious about where we are? :(" asked Manic.

"Someone probably ratted us out," suggested Caity.

"They wouldn't! :O" hissed Sonic.

"Rats. Bad." said Bobby.

They waited for at least ten minutes before they decided that no one was coming out, and they all erupted from the leaf mountain like magma from a volcano and charged toward the house and went inside to find Uncle Jake, Aunt Bernadette, and their other cousins Sunny and Cosmic waiting for them, but not Ashura. :(

Hugs and kisses all around.

Jake was a silvery white colored hedgehog with bright green tipped qills, and was dressed like a Sith Lord. His wife Bernadette, however, looked like an older, female version of Sonic, but with blonde hair, and was dressed as a Jedi, complete with a lightsaber handle attached to her robe's belt. Their middle child, a green furred, hedgehog named Cosmic, was Sonia's age, and was dressed as a Clone Trooper since _Attack of the Clones_ came out the previous year. Jake and Bernadette's youngest child was a two year old, female hedgehog named Sunny, not just because of her bright yellow fur and honey colored eyes, but also because of her bright personality. Everything about her shined like the sun. It seemed fitting that she was dressed as a bumblebee.

Ashura was nowhere to be found.

"Where'd Ash go?" asked Caity.

"Oh, he went into the bathroom just before you guys got in," replied Caity's dad, Cameron.

It was then that Manic and Sonic noticed the costumes Caity and Bobby's parents were wearing. Cameron was dressed like a Roman Legionaire while Sauna was dressed like a Greek Princess, olive leaf crown, and all.

Then they heard a toilet flush and the twins raced toward the door that the noise came from and watched it open slowly. But the bathroom lights had been turned off and the only thing they could see were a pair of shades looking down at them.

"Manic Hedge?" asked a slightly familiar, though slightly matured, voice.

"Yeah?" asked Manic awkwardly.

The door flew open to reveal a green furred hedgehog dressed entirely in leather, along with the shades over his eyes. He raised a stainless steel capgun at Manic and pulled the trigger before Manic could unholster his revolver.

The blast shook the house and made several other people jump.

"You are terminated!" said Ashura in an Austrian accent.

He was dressed like the Terminator since T3 came out only a few months before, and he looked just as buffed up, too.

"How'd you get so thin? :O" asked Manic.

"I worked out alot." replied Ashura, removing his shades to reveal his red eyes underneath.

"I think that's everyone," said Harvey, checking a list.

"So what now?" asked Ashura, a toy double barrelled shotgun resting on his shoulder.

"Uncle Chuck will escort you guys while you go trick or treating, and we adults will stay here and prepare for da best partay eva! :D" replied Juliana.

"Cool beans! When do we leave?" asked Cosmic, his blaster rifle at the ready.

Harvey looked at his watch.

"In about 5, 4, 3, 2-"

"Okay we get it!" replied Ashura.

He ran out the door with his halloween bag and Manic followed after him and watched Ashura grab another bag from the bushes. He caught up to him and asked "What's in the bag?"

Ashura gave him an evil smirk.

"We're not just gonna collect candy from these houses, we're gonna give them something in return, XD" he chuckled.

"What are we gonna give them? O.O" asked Manic.

"A collection of too-good-to-pass-ups that me and Caity threw together, X3" snickered Ashura, opening the bag and letting Manic get a quick glance inside.

Manic's eyes turned to saucers when he saw the bag's contents: firecrackers, chalk, stink bombs, and various other items.

"Get ready for some real fun, we're going on a prank spree!" declared Ashura, his fist raised.


	5. Pranks a lot

(Sterin House, 5:00 pm)

The rest of the kids came out. Altogether, there were 9 kids, including Caity, Skye, Sonic, Sonia, Sunny, Cosmic, Bobby, Ashura, and himself. Manic saw Sonic with a plastic machine gun strapped over his shoulder, most likely given to him by Skye. There was also Uncle Chuck who was there to chaperone, making the total number 10.

"Alright, there's me and Ashura. Who is going with who?" asked Chuck.

"Skye, Caity, and Manic are with me," said Ashura.

"Kind of a small group. Are ya sure you don't need anymore?" asked Chuck.

"We'll be alright. Besides, a smaller group is easier for me to look after," replied Ash.

"Alright then, we'll see ya in an hour," said Chuck, waving.

He and Sonic, Bobby, Cosmic, Sonia, and Sunny went down the left street while Ashura's group went down the right.

"Alright, the prank stuff's a bit limited this year, so we'll have to pick our targets carefully," said Ashura.

"That's where these extra costumes come in," said Caity, opening her bag to reveal several other cosutmes she smuggled in, "We go to all the houses marked on Skye's map and we use these costumes to get candy from them twice, and if we can fool them into giving us candy a second time, then we move on. If they don't give us our treats, we give them tricks. :3"

"OO That's actually pretty clever," replied Ashura.

"Ash has the tricks, Skye has the map, Caity has the costumes, but what do I have?" asked Manic.

"You are our cover. We needed one more person in our group so your Uncle Upchuck wouldn't get suspicious, so I picked you since you kinda already knew about our little game," said Ash.

"Oh. Is there anything I can do to help?" asked the spiky haired cop.

"We'll see, but for now, let's have some fun," said Ashura, "Now where's our first target?"

Skye pulled a map out of his firefighter costume and unfolded it.

"The first one is old man Jenkin's place, around the corner at the end of the block to the right," he said, pointing in the direction of their first target, "This guy likes to play loud music just to annoy his neighbors and then acts like an innocent old man when the cops tell him to stop, and he usually gets away with it."

"Prime candidate. Looks like he'll be the first to donate free candy to us," said Ashura.

They went to Jenkin's house and said "Trick or Treat" and waited for him to come to the door. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal an elderly doberman. Manic was a bit surprised at how kindly he seemed for an alleged prankster. Not as devious as his younger counterparts.

"Happy halloween, kids, :)" he said, dropping kit kats into their waiting bags.

"Happy halloween," they replied, and then left.

They went back around some bushes and got down behind them.

"Alright, one of us is gonna have to sit this next attempt out or it'll be too obvious we're the same kids as before. So whose it gonna be?" asked Ashura.

"This is my first time, I'll sit back and watch," replied Manic.

"It's our first time, too. We just go back and make like we just arrived at his place. Ya sure you wanna wait here?" asked Ash.

"Yeah, I already got candy from him anyway, ;)" winked Manic.

"Alright then. Caity, let's see them costumes," said Ash.

A few minutes later, a ghostbuster, a frankenstein monster, and a vampire emerged from the bushes and approached Jenkins' house for the final time. The oldest one, the vampire, opened his cape and stuck out his hand to ring the doorbell. The doberman opened said door and smiled at the "new" comers.

"Happy halloween, :)" he smiled, dropping candy into their baskets.

"Thank you," they all replied.

With their union dues collected, they left and Manic followed them.

"Who is next, mortal?" asked Ashura.

Frankenstein checked the map again.

"Next, we have Mr and Mrs Goddy down the road. Not much about them except that they're a couple of stuck-ups who need a little halloween excitement," said Skye, putting the map away.

They scurried over to the Goddys' house and got their candy, then switched back to their original costumes. This time, Ashura stayed behind while the rest went up to the door and rang again, and it worked, just like with Mr Jenkins.

"Well that was easy. They weren't expecting anything unusual," said Caity.

"That means their guard is down, X3" snickered Ashura, "Whose next?"

"Next on the list is "Scotty Flander, but my dad calls him _Potty Flounder_ because he uses bad words, even around kids," said Skye.

Potty Flounder? That's definitely something Harvey would call him. thought Manic, trying to stifle his laughs.

They went over to Mr Flander's house and yelled "trick or treat" but all they got was a grouchy orca telling them to (bleep) off.

"Bingo!" whispered Skye as they left.

"Looks like potty mouth fishpaste is our first victim. Let's see what we got," said Ashura, opening his "bag of tricks."

"Since he likes making his mouth sound like a toilet, his car will have to smell like one, X3"

Ashura pulled out what looked to be a small change purse with a dollar sticking out of it.

"What else is in it?" asked Manic, knowing that couldn't be all there was to it.

"The result of someone's pet eating laxative," said Ashura matter-of-factly.

"It's going in Mr Flanders' car?" asked Manic.

"Only if it's unlocked. If the alarm goes off, run like your life depends on it," warned Ashura, nearing Flanders' sports car.

He looked inside and sure enough, the driver's seat was unlocked.

"He's just asking for it," snickered Ash, opening the door and sticking the poo filled change purse into the glove compartment.

It was sure to give off a horrible smell, and when Flanders found the purse with a dollar sticking out, he'd reach inside to get the rest, only to find the source of the smell.

"Run like the why-nd!" ordered Caity as soon as Ash silently closed the car door.

"It's _wind_, :P" said Skye flatly.

"Right," said Caity.

They ran to the next house, and the costumes worked there, but at the next one, their attempt at extra candy was ratted out by a kid, of all people.

"You already came here, you fakers!" shouted the three year old.

Everyone was D:

They ran into some nearby bushes.

"Manic, you're up to bat," said Ashura.

"Kay, what do I do?" asked Manic.

"I just need you to ring the door bell, then run back here," replied Ash.

"Alright," said Manic.

He ran up to the door, rang the bell, then ran back to the bushes. Ash waited until the silhouette of the kid could be seen through the glass door, and then lit the firecrackers he had with him and threw them. They landed in front of the door just as the snot nosed little punk opened it and he was met with blinding flashes, mixed with deafening pops that nearly shattered the windows. The pranksters ran for it while the kid freaked out and ran back inside his house.

"That'll teach him to interfere with our attempts at extra CANdy, :B" said Skye, sounding like a retarded hillbilly.

At the next house, they were told to buzz off before they could collect any candy at all. The house looked like a mansion, similar to the Hedges' house, and it was white, to top it all off, so Ash pulled a couple of red chalk pieces from his tricks bag.

"Take a piece and go crazy," he said.

Caity and Manic both took the red chalk and snuck back to the house while Skye and Ashura watched from the bushes for any bypassers.

(5 minutes later)

The two hedgies joined Skye and Ash in the bushes. They all looked back at the house to admire their handiwork. Written in big red letters on the front of the house was: _Halloween party, 6:00-8:30. Everyone invited_.

"They're gonna blow a fuse when people start showing up, XD" laughed Skye.

"I'm impressed," said Ashura, an eyebrow raised.

"Ready to pay up?" asked Caity.

"It's not over yet," replied Ash, "There's still a few more targets left.

"What are you talking about?" asked Manic.

"They got a bet going to see who can do the best prank," said Skye flatly.

The next three houses netted them extra candy, but at the next one, they got sprayed with a water hose by some jerk wad rabbit lady trying to be funny (but failing miserably). Manic got out dry, and Caity and Skye made it out with only a little bit of water on them, while poor Ashura was soaked, having been sprayed at point blank.

"So she likes spraying people, eh? Let's see how she likes...**the Nuclear Prank**," said Ashura in a freaky voice.

"What's **the Nuclear Prank**?" asked Manic.

"It's when we use all our remaining pranks at once," replied Ash.

"This should be good, :)" said Skye in anticipation.

"Oh it is. We have a pack of forks, a bannana, a pack of pepperonis, seran wrap, vaseline, some more firecrackers, and some super glue. We're going to make that hag pay dearly for wetting me- I mean us- with that green snake she carries," replied Ashura.

Everyone huddled around their older cousin.

"Here's what we'll do..."

(1 minute later)

Vanilla Rabbot never thought that spraying trick or treaters with a hose could be so much fun, but it was. And sure it was mean, but everyone was getting pranked this time of year and she wasn't gonna let that happen to her.

"Yoohoo!" sang a voice from behind her.

She turned around to see someone disappearing behind her large house and she ignored it, knowing they'd probably just throw something at her as soon as she followed them to that area, but then she heard loud popping noises coming from behind her house and turned the garden hose to full blast and charged to the backyard, ready to spray whoever was lighting fireworks. But as she got to the back, she didn't see any rowdy teenagers. Instead, she saw the picnic table and chairs overturned or stacked on top of each other, and the grill had somehow been placed on top of the pool house, but worst of all, there was toilet paper strewn all over the yard, on the table, on the pool house, and even on the branches.

"Come out! I know you're here!" she shouted, spraying the hose at the surrounding bushes.

No one appeared.

She then remembered the teens she'd soaked earlier and wondered if perhaps spraying them hadn't been the smartest thing to do. If she had learned anything from her teenage daughter, Bunnie, it was that teens were creative, especially when they tried to get back at someone.

She then remembered the pool house and hoped they hadn't put anything dirty inside the pool, but when she tried to pull the door to the pool house open, her hand slipped right off the knob.

They put vaseline on the knob!

She began to grow nervous when she realized that the toilet paper wasn't the only thing they'd done to her yard. She wiped the vaseline off the knob and pulled on it, but the door wouldn't budge, so she pulled with all her might until it finally flew open. She noticed something sticky on the door frame and recognized it as super glue.

"Oh Gawd no," she growled, running back to her house.

She tried to open her back door, but that was also glued and vaseline'd shut. She looked at her yard one more time, scanning for any further destruction wreaked by teens out for revenge, but saw nothing and breathed a sigh of relief...until she realised her front yard wasn't entirely safe, and rushed back around to find her worst fears confirmed: her car had seran wrap on it, preventing the doors from being opened any time soon, and forks were stuck all over the yard, spelling out the word _payback__._

"YOU BRATS WILL PAY FOR THAT!" she shouted.

A block away, four hedgehogs stopped running and fell to their knees laughing.

"She still doesn't know about the bannana in her car's tail pipe, or the pepperonis underneath the seran wrap, X3" giggled Skye.

"She also doesn't know about the super glue and vaseline on her front doors, either, XD" laughed Caity.

"She's gonna be ticked in the morning, cuz she'll still be trying to get inside her own home, :)" chuckled Manic.

"Well that's what she gets for pranking pranksters, and I have you guys to thank for helping me. Our little spree may have been cut short, but that last prank made it all worth it," gushed Ashura.

"Okay, you are still the best. I did good at that chalk prank, but you beat the crap out of mine. I bow to your skills, master," groveled Caity sarcastically as she handed Ashura the prize money.

"That's okay, Caity, I don't want your money," said Ashura.

"You don't?" asked Caity, raising her gaze toward her black and green cousin.

"No, I just want you to say that last part about my skills to me everyday for the rest of my life, :)" said Ashura.

"O_O Take the money! NOW!" said Caity shoving the five dollar bill at Ashura, who pocketed it gladly.

He then looked at his watch and got the D: look on his face.

"What time is it?" asked Skye.

"5:49. We only have 11 minutes before the party begins," replied Ashura.

Everyone looked up to see the sun disappearing behind the tree lines.

"We don't have that much candy. How will we get more in just 11 minutes?" asked Manic.

"Run!" said the other three in unison.

They'd have to do this with sonic speed.


	6. Partay

**This is the last chapter of the Halloween story, so I'd like to thank Riku's Music Lover for helping me out with this story. Harvey, Juliana, Skye, and Caity belong to her. Sonic, Manic, Sonia, Aleena, Jules, Vanilla, and Ashura are copyright to Sega and their associates. The rest belong to me.**

(Sterin House, 6:01 pm)

The front door swung open and Ashura, Manic, Caity, and Skye stumbled in, panting. They dropped the Texas sized bags of candy they'd been carrying over their shoulders and fell tot he floor. Who would have thought they could have gotten so much candy in only 11 minutes? All that running helped, especially since they'd been across the neighborhood from the Sterins' house at 6:00. They arrived at the house at 6:01.

"I think I need a break," panted Skye, collapsing against the door.

Only then did they notice the house was totally dark, save for the lights in the foyer. It was also quiet, too. The hedgehogs went into the kitchen and turned the lights on. As soon as they did, Jason Vorhees, a green witch, a werewolf, and a vampiress said _BOO_ and grabbed them, making them all jump. Ashura was so startled that he shoved the werewolf off himself and onto the floor.

"Safe!" said Harvey, as if he were at a baseball game, and got back up.

Everyone else was having a fit of giggles at Ashura's "pushiness."

"The Terminator just got terminated! XD" laughed a female Jedi in the living room.

"He always gets terminated at the end, :P" scoffed Ashura.

"So why'd you dress up as him?" asked a Sith Lord from across the room.

"Cuz a bath robe and a plastic sword didn't seem like the best idea for a costume, :)" replied Ash.

"BZZZZZZZZZZ" buzzed Sunny.

For the next ten minutes, everyone ate snacks and compared their bounty of candy, seeing who got the most. Ashura, on the other hand, had something else in mind. He got Caity, Manic, and Skye to follow him into the dining room, away from the crowd, and called the Johnsons' house (the one they wrote the fake party invitation on).

"Yes?" asked an irritated voice.

"Great party, huh?" said Ashura.

"For the last time, we aren't hosting a party. Do not come over here!" yelled Mr. Johnson on the other end.

All four hedgehogs were laughing before Ashura had a chance to hang up.

"Okay, you win, XD" said Ashura, handing the 5 dollars back to Caity.

"Yays, ^_^" cheered Caity.

"What was that all about?" asked Sonic, who had been listening from around the corner.

"Err...prank call," replied Manic.

It wasn't too far from the truth.

"o_O Ooookay," said Sonic, walking away.

"Good cover," praised Skye.

They went back into the kitchen and got some moar food. Manic helped himself to a caramel apple, some brownies that his mom made, some mummy dogs, and some of Juliana's "graveyard special" which was chocolate pudding mixed with marshmallow cream and oreo bits and topped with marshmallow headstones. Caity had some mummy dogs, brownies, pumpkin cookies, and monster mouths. Skye had some monster mouths and a caramel apple, some monster eyes, brownies and marshmallow bones. Everyone was enjoying their choice of snacks when Harvey called for everyone's attention:

"Now I'm sure you all know by now that the food isn't the only thing we're doing tonight, cuz we're not _that_ boring," he said, getting a few chuckles out of his respective audience.

He continued: "We're going to play some games for prizes as well. By now, some of you have already found some plastic bugs."

Cosmic, Bobby, Sonic, and Cameron held up the plastic glow-in-the-dark insects they'd found.

"That's one game that everyone can play, and the prize is you getting to keep whatever bugs you find," he said, "Another game we're gonna play is something similar. But first we all have to get into teams of four."

Manic was already grouped with Caity, Skye, and Ash, so he didn't need to find a team, though they did need to pick a color. It was red, blue, green, or yellow, and they spent 10 seconds debating whether to pick green or blue, but when Sonic's team picked blue, they were left with green. Then Harvey elaborated on the details of the game: "What we'll do now is find all the bones to your team's skeleton. The bones are the same color as your team, so if you find a bone piece from the list, don't take it unless it's the same color as your own team...otherwise we'll use your bones next halloween."

Everyone laughed again.

"Copies of the list are on the table. Begin now."

Skye grabbed a copy and brought it to the green team. The first item was, of course, a skull, so they set out looking for it, but they found a hand in the living room and a leg in the kitchen before they finally managed to spot the skull on a candle stick in the dining room. They then found the rib cage in the foyer where they'd come in, but then they heard Sauna saying that her team found all the parts.

"Yup, looks like Red Team found all the bones, so they win," he said.

"What's the prize? :D" asked Cosmic.

"You all get five dollars," said Harvey, producing a treasure chest that contained four $5 bills.

Sauna, Cosmic, Cameron, and Bobby snatched the greenbacks and Harvey motioned everyon to follow him. They all went into the dining room to see a pumpkin poster that looked rather ordinary, except for the fact that it was missing a triangle nose.

Juliana held up a bowl full of noses in one hand and a bandana in the other.

"You all get a shot at pinning the nose on the pumpkin. Winners all get a mini pumpkin filled with CANdy, :)" she said.

For the next ten minutes, everyone put on the blindfold, spun around a few times, and attempted to place the nose in the correct spot. Most of them got pretty close, but some of the younger players made laugh bags of themselves. Cosmic pinned the nose on the wall beside the poster, Sunny pinned the nose on a chair, and Sonia went the wrong way and pinned it on the wall across the room from the target. Everyone had a laughing fit while Sonia was so embarrassed that her eyes watered, but then Caity gave her a big hug and she cheered up again. Other than that, most of the players won since it was a fairly easy game and shared their pumpkin CANdy with everyone.

They were about to play another game when the doorbell rang. Who would show up this late? Harvey answered the door and came back with ten cardboard boxes with _Papa John's_ written on them in big, red letters.

"PIZZA! :D" cheered everyone simultaneously, their arms raised.

This was a surprise, but a pleasant one. After another ten minutes of OM-NOM-NOMs and burping contests (which Ashura and Harvey tied on), the party goers resumed the games.

"Next on the list is one you may or may not be familiar with. It's called TP Mummy," said Harvey.

Some looked confused while the rest said "Awesome!"

"For those of you who don't know what this is, you take some volunteers and you wrap them up in toilet paper. Whichever team wraps their team mate up the most wins candied apples," said Harvey.

Everyone stayed in the same teams as the treaure hunt. Manic was the wrap volunteer and stood still while Caity, Skye, and Ashura wrapped toilet paper around him. It seemed so ridiculous that he was wearing something as unenviable as toilet paper that it made him laugh, but finally, they finished wrapping him and it felt rather sturdy, unlike when it was in rolls. For a few minutes, the judges (Cameron, Bernadette, and Chuck) inspected the mummies to see who was wrapped the best. Manic's heart soared when he heard the judges declare him the winner.

"Awesome!" he shouted, blowing a hole in the toilet paper, which made several other people laugh.

"Green team wins," announced Harvey.

"Back in ancient times, the Egyptians would remove certain organs from the body before wrapping the pharoh up in bandages, including the heart. They believed that one day, the pharoh would return to collect his heart and use it again. That being said, here are your hearts, young kings," said Harvey, presenting a tray of candied apples to Manic's team.

"Awesome!" said Skye and Ashura in unison.

"Xo EEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!" squeaked Sonia and Sunny.

"And finally, we have one last game for everyone to play: Zombie Tag."

"How does that go?" asked Manic as he tore toilet paper off himself with one hand and used his other hand to hold his "heart apple" while he ate it.

"We have to go outside for this one," said Harvey.

Everyone followed him into the backyard which had a good number of bushes in it. Harvey went over to the mountain of leaves and lit a match and threw it into the pile. Nothing happened, so he lit another match and threw it into the leaves, and this time, it burned until the entire leaf pile was ablaze. Everyone ooh'd and aah'd.

"The bonfire is our source of light. This game is different from the other ones because while it is competitive, you wind up joining the other team if you're not careful enough. In most zombie stories, anyone dumb enough to get bitten by a zombie gets infected and turns into a zombie themselves. Same rules apply here, one person will be the zombie and will tag whoever he or she can get their hands on while everyone else has to keep their distance. Whoever stays in the game the longest without being tagged wins," said Harvey.

"O.O Coooooooool," said all the boys.

"I'll be the Zombie. As soon as I tag you, shout out your name so others have a chance to escape," said Harvey, "On your mark, get set...die!"

Everyone ran for their lives while Harvey took off after the nearest person, moaning and growling mindlessly, like a real zombie.

Manic, Caity, Skye, and Ashura stuck together, figuring they'd have a better chance of staying alive the longest, but they all knew that eventually they'd have to split up since the game only ended when there was only one person left. For a long time, everyone ran around the yard, avoiding hungry zombies and jumping through bushes, using the bonfire to see in the dark, but finally there were only two left: Ashura and Manic.

"Let's run around the yard in a big circle, so when they gather around in a circle and try to close us off, we can run right through them," whispered Ashura.

"Got it" whispered back Manic.

They continued running circles around the zombies and took shortcuts through bushes and slid under tables, but the zombies never seemed to tire. Manic noticed out of all the zombies, Sonic seemed to be the most persistent. He sure was getting faster each time they raced.

"Whoa!" shouted Ash.

They both stopped to see the the zombified crowd surrounding them and closing in slowly.

"Nice knowin ya," said Manic.

"It's not over yet, they still have to tag one of us," said Ashura.

Then Sauna charged straight at Ash, but then Manic tackled her and she stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. Everyone stopped.

"I guess that leaves Ashura as the sole survivor," said Juliana.

"Uhh...cool?" asked Ashura awkwardly, not used to winning.

"Congrats, Ash, you won...a brain," announced Harvey, handing Ashura a popcorn ball.

"Brain?" asked Ash.

"Actually, it's popcorn, but it looks like a brain, ;)" said Harvey.

"True dat," said Ashura.

"Does that mean we're done?" asked Cosmic.

"Naw. Unlike the other games, we can keep playing this one as many times as we want since I have plenty more brains- I mean popcorn balls to go around," replied Harvey.

"Awesome blossom!" said Bobby.

Some stayed outdoor for round 2, while others, including Ashura and Manic, went back inside to look for more glowing bugs. As they got inside, Ashura tapped Manic on the shoulder.

"Come out to the front yard, there's something I want to show you," whispered Ash.

"Kay," replied Manic.

They both went outside to the front yard which was completely void of any life forms, save for the chirping crickets of the night.

"You've been a real pal tonight and I wanted to thank you for that," said Ashura.

"Is that all? oO" asked Manic, not sure where this was going.

"Well, no it's not, actually. My dad taught me this super secret self defense move to disarm anyone trying to hit you with a dangerous object, and something inside me keeps telling me to teach you that move. I don't know why anymore than you do, but I think it might come in handy," replied Ashura.

"Okay...what's this super secrety move?" asked Manic, sarcasm in his voice.

"Well first, what hand do you use the most?" asked Ash.

"My right hand," replied Manic.

"Alright, let's say a guy tries to knife you. He goes to stab you- like this- and you first use your right hand to knock the knife away from yourself, and while he's recovering, you delay that recovery with a slap to the face. A hard slap in the face is more disorienting than a weak fist to the head, so make sure to slap the thug's face as hard as you can, and don't worry about him or her retaliating because after you slap the person, ball your hands into fists and smash them into both sides of the person's head, right in the temples, but do it quickly, and with full force," said Ashura.

"Alright. Anything else?" asked Manic.

"Yeah, block me when I come at you," said Ashura.

Before Manic had time to ask what he was talking about, Ash ran at Manic who was so surprised that he froze. Ashura stopped just before his invisible knife collided with Manic's face.

"You won't have time to think. You gotta do it as soon as the situation demands it. Now, I'll come at you again, and you remember three words: Swipe. Slap. Smash. Know it, and act on it." said Ashura.

"Swipe, slap, smash. Got it," sighed Manic, wishing they could get this over with.

Ash charged him with an imaginary knife again, and this time, Manic swiped the knife arm to his left, then swung his hand near Ash's face, acting out a slap, and then swung both fists at the sides of Ash's head simultaneously.

"Perfect. Let's try that a few more times," said Ashura.

They practiced this maneuver several more times with Ash trying different moves while Manic learned to disarm him each time until he had perfected the skill. It was only when Ashura couldn't get near Manic no matter how hard he tried that Manic began to see how much potential that secret move had in it, and was impressed with himself.

"Keep practicing that move and...no one's gonna be able to hurt you...unless they grabbed you from behind...or threw their entire body at you...but I...doubt that'll ever happen, :o" panted Ashura.

"Thanks, I'll remember that, :)" said Manic, finally understanding how important that move was.

They went back inside to roast smores on the bonfire before it went out.

(8:30 pm)

"Well thanks again for inviting us," gushed Aleena.

"Oh, thank you for stopping by," replied Juliana, hugging Aleena.

"Maybe next year we could throw an even bigger halloween party at our house," winked Jules.

"Nah-ah, we'll do an even better one!" teased Harvey.

"No you won't!" teased Jules.

"Yes we will!" shot back Harvey.

"No you won't!"

"Yes we will!"

"Wont!"

"Will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!"

"Won't!"

"Apple Sauce!"

(awkward silence)

"Well thank you for coming," thanked Juliana, not knowing what else to say.

"Anytime," said Jules.

Then Aleena called for Sonic, Manic, and Sonia, who were joking with Skye.

"Looks like it's time to leave," said Manic.

"Thanks for letting us come, those smores were awesome. Here's your gun back," said Sonic, handing Skye his plastic rifle back.

"No problem. See you guys tomorrow," called out Skye.

"Bye bye," squeaked Sonia, waving.

They followed their parents outside and got in the car and drove back home. Manic slowly got out of the car like he was tired, but quickly snuck around to the back end of the house that faced the lake, wanting to scare everyone one last time, but found the back door already open. He didn't know if they'd left it open or if someone had snuck in, so he quietly snuck up to the open door and listened for any noise, but heard only the garage door opening as his parents came into the house. He waited while they came into the kitchen but heard nothing, and decided to wait until they came to shut the door to jump out at them.

"Jules! The door's open!" hissed Aleena.

This would be good. He only had to wait until someone came to close the door, and then it would be boos all around. XD

"Is someone in here?" called out Jules.

"STAY BACK OR I'LL SHOOT!" came a reply.

D: _Oh crap,_ thought Manic.

There really was an intruder in the house.

"Now hold on. It doesn't have to be like this. Just put the jewelry box down and you can go," offered Jules.

"I'm taking it! I didn't come here just to leave empty handed," hissed the burglar.

"No, you're not. Put the jewelry box down and you can go. You don't have to give the cops a reason to put you away tonight. Just drop it and leave," said Jules firmly.

Manic decided to peak around the corner and saw a grizzly bear that was surprisingly short in size, enough to be considered a midget, and dressed in a leather jacket and cargo pants standing right in front of the doorway, but he was facing Jules, Aleena, and the rest of Manic's family, which meant his back was turned toward Manic, though judging from the way his arms were positioned, he looked like he was holding a weapon of some kind. Jules looked like he was ready to pounce, while Aleena nervously stood in front of Sonic and Sonia to protect them.

"I'm not goin to the joint, but neither am I leaving empty handed," argued the midget burglar.

Aleena, who was already terrified, became absolutely petrified when she saw Manic right behind the criminal. Seeing her own boy this close to a dangerous man wiped out all rational thought, leaving only her motherly instinct intact. She wanted to tell Manic to run away, to get as far away from this man as he could, but still had enough sense not to alert the armed thug to her son's whereabouts. If he discovered there was someone in a police outfit behind him, he would most certainly use the shotgun he was carrying, and the last thing she needed to do was let him know where her own boy was.

"And obviously you'll squawk to the pigs like birdies after I'm gone, and I can't have that happening," continued the burglar.

Manic felt a cold sweat going down his forehead. This burglar just stated he was going to kill his family. He wished Ashura were here to kick this monster's butt. But then he remembered what Ashura had said almost an hour earlier.

My dad taught me this super secret self defense move to disarm anyone trying to hit you with a dangerous object, and something inside me keeps telling me to teach you that move. I don't know why anymore than you do, but I think it might come in handy.

Now he understood why Ashura taught him that move so hastily. A higher power knew this would happen and told Ash to teach him that move so he could use to save his family. The man may have had a gun, but he had the element of surprise.

"HEY!" he called out.

_No! Why, God? Why?_ thought Aleena, thinking her son had caused his own death.

The bear whirled around, intending to shoot whoever was behind him and then direct his wrath at the people who had ruined his attempt at a getting some money, but then something unexpected happened.

Seeing the barrel of the shotgun, Manic knew it was now or never and lunged at the bear, using his right hand to knock the gun away from himself.

_SWIPE!_

Using the distraction, he slapped the bear on the nose as hard as he could.

_SLAP!_

The bear grabbed his nose with one hand while seeming to forget about the shotgun in his other hand. Manic then brought back both his arms and slammed his fists into the sides of the bear's head, but his arms came up short of their target since the bear was just slightly taller than he was, and he wound up hitting the burglar in both of his eyes.

_SMASH!_

Blinded, the bear dropped the shotgun and placed his paws over his eyes, trying to comfort them. Jules dashed forward and tackled the burglar, knocking him to the ground while Aleena broke out of her trance and picked up the bear's shotgun and handed it to Jules who aimed it at the bear's head while Sonic rushed over to the house phone and dialed 911.

"Burlgar in our house! Come quickly!" Sonic yelled into the phone.

Ten minutes later, the police arrived and stuffed the now cuffed bear into the back of the car. Uncle Chuck, who had been carrying his radio with him just in case, had been contacted and turned his car around and came back to help put the burglar away. The cops were all surprised to find out it was young Manic who had single handedly saved his whole family from the would-be murderer.

"You sure are a brave young lad, and a hero," said the Police Chief, "Your Uncle was right to let you borrow his badge. I know you'll make a fine officer someday."

It was rather fitting that Manic had been dressed as a cop when he took the thug down, but if he'd been a split second slower in acting, he wouldn't be breathing right now. No one knew this better than Aleena who wouldn't let go of Manic afterward. She hugged him so tightly that he could barely breathe even now.

"I was so afraid I was going to lose you," she sobbed, "don't ever do that again."

Manic watched Uncle Chuck and another officer put the bear in the back of a squad car and drive off. As soon as that particular car vanished, he breathed a sigh of relief and was more than thankful that Ashura had taught him that self defense move. It saved him and his family, and it made him a hero, further inspiring him to become a protector of innocents one day, but deep down he couldn't help wondering if that was the last time he would need it...

**Now that that's out of the way, I shall resume Counterfeit Manic. ;)**


End file.
